Dry (wet!!) creek bed / french drain
lauren02 02
9 years ago
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lauren02 02
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agolauren02 02
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Picture: Drain with buried pipe or dry creek bed???
Comments (22)A dry creek bed is easy to build as long as there is a place for the water to go. We routed the downspouts from our front gutters and the overflow from our water feature to drain here. This also catches all of the run off from our meadow. At the bottom of the slope in my garden above the dry creek, we have a rain garden of plants that like full sun and wet feet in winter, yet won't die in our summer. We already had a ditch, so there was very little digging. We used one pallet of river rock that was around $275 last fall. We used permeable landscape fabric underneath to control the weeds. We don't use fabric in flower beds, BTW! It took 3 of us half a day to do this, but that was with our archaeologist son looking through the stone for arrowheads (which he found). My husband and I didn't mind the slow pace! This was created in September 2006, so the plant material is new. Sidebar: The wire edging is a temporary detterent to deer to keep them from trampling the new plants. It's working so far since everything is deer resistant...See MoreWhat do you think of the concept of a dry creek bed?
Comments (9)Out here in the west there was a trend of installing dry stream beds about 16-17 years ago. Many were so ugly and terribly installed that I think people finally got turned off to them. Now there is a resurgence due to new landscape ordinances that require a homeowner to keep as much rain water on their own property rather than discharging it into the storm drains. A lot of the newer dry steam beds are much more natural and organic looking and beautifully integrated into the landscape, I think in part because of the horrid examples of the past. I think that you can 'get the look' and have it also be functional as a vehicle to re-charge your aquifer. The installation of a liner, piping, filters and pump is going to be a fairly large undertaking ( $ ) and I wonder if having a dry stream bed might be a better fit than an operational stream bed ? Drtygrl - The flat stone river bed in the first photo is beautifully rendered. I appreciate the moss covered large side wall stones and how they naturally move the undulating fall line of the stream....See MoreThe dry creek bed-long photo heavy
Comments (2)I like everything you've done. Having had just a little experience with heavy rains I understand your need for a dry creek. That was a huge undertaking and you brought in some wonderful rocks to use for it. Now you can do some very creative fun landscaping with your dry creek! I googled that subject. Maybe you can get some ideas from some of the photos. Hopefully other readers will have some more specific ideas to pass along. Again, thank you for sharing your photos of the process. Here is a link that might be useful: Landscaping man made dry creek ......See MoreDry creek bed
Comments (6)I did something similar on my side yard because our houses drain to the street out front. We put down 2 layers of landscape fabric after getting the slope right, then decomposed granite with bull rock on the edges. Most of the granite has washed away over the last few years & we will be putting down more bull rock to replace it. It flows very well in torrential rain, but I do have to spray the area with vinegar quarterly to keep weed seeds from sprouting in there. We did not try to plant that area, but if we had more space we might have put some large potted plants thru there. I'll get a pic later today so you can see it....See MoreYardvaark
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agolauren02 02
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoYardvaark
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoYardvaark
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agolauren02 02
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoYardvaark
9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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lauren02 02Original Author